


Not The Story You Expect

by AshWinterGray



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Autoshop, Coffee Shops, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Diners, Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hair Dyeing, Haircuts, Home, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Long Hair, Married Couple, Married Life, Men Crying, Monsters, Nightmares, Running Away, Travel, Uncommon Ship, Undercover, Weddings, Witness Protection, antique shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 01:48:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20498888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshWinterGray/pseuds/AshWinterGray
Summary: "Merry Christmas, we’re trying to kidnap your daughter. Such a lovely greeting card. Or, it would have been if they hadn’t tried to flat out attack the house. You know, a nice little warning. That wasn’t what they got. Instead, on Christmas Eve, as they all got together, the Byers having returned for the holidays, and they were suddenly attacked by men in suits."After reuniting for the Christmas of 1985, Doctor Brenner decides to make his move. Steve isn't going to let that happen. With the help of Murray Bauman, Steve and El take new identities and live out their lives away from those they love. Can they rely on each other when theu have no one else?(Rating is for serious themes, please check the first note for triggers)





	Not The Story You Expect

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING:  
-Past Rape Mentioned and Discussed Repeatedly  
-Your Ship May Die to In This Book  
-Check the Tags
> 
> Also, shout out to WolfaMoon who wrote a story with the uncommon ship I am using and inspired me!

Merry Christmas, we’re trying to kidnap your daughter. Such a lovely greeting card. Or, it would have been if they hadn’t tried to flat out attack the house. You know, a nice little warning. That wasn’t what they got. Instead, on Christmas Eve, as they all got together, the Byers having returned for the holidays, and they were suddenly attacked by men in suits.

“NO!”

“WILL! JANE!”

“RUN!”

“GET THE GUN! NANCY! THE GUN!”

“STOP!”

“RUN!”

“ELEVEN!”

“GO!”

The lights were out, and if there was one thing Steve Harrington knew it was that _everyone_ underestimated him. So, Steve grabbed El and booked it. Quite literally. He booked it with El tucked under one arm, sliding past the broken glass.

Robin would kill him later.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a goodnight. Yeah right. Steve wasn’t sure how long they ran, El eventually being moved to his back. But, boy, did they run. And as freaked out as Steve was at first, there were nice men in big trucks willing to help a few kids out. Especially if you told them you were trying to get home for Christmas.

\---------------------

“NO!” Steve snapped, taking the cup away from El. “You are _not_ giving a child pure alcohol.”

“I do believe it is called vodka,” Murray Bauman stated, grinning cheekily at the two of them. “And why not. You yourself had your first drink when you were, what, fifteen?”

“Twelve,” Steve corrected instantly. “That isn’t the point. The point is, our friends are in danger and El is being hunted. We need help.”

Murray Bauman was, temporarily, living just out of Ohio. He hated it, from what Steve had heard. The guy was living in an old cabin type place that was practically in the middle of nowhere. The fact that it was out of the way and had enough space for his bulky equipment was about the only thing that Mr. Bauman liked.

“Without El, Doctor Brenner won’t be able to do much,” Mr. Bauman shrugged nonchalantly, and that made Steve’s blood boil as El sank onto a couch and buried her face in her hands. “He’ll have to let them go. Doctor Owens may not have been able to stop Brenner from raiding the place, but he won’t let them keep your friends. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll raise a red flag.”

“And El?” Steve demanded. “What do we do to keep her safe?”

Murray was doing that thing that Nancy and Jonathan had told him about. That thing where he flipped on music and began to chug vodka like water. Steve had half a mind to chug the glass he had snatched from El, but he needed a level head.

“The best we can do for her would be to put her in hiding,” Murray finally spoke up.

Steve, however, was just about done with this man. “What does that mean, exactly?”

Where Steve was on edge and furious, Murray was far too chill. It made Steve’s blood boil as the man knocked back more vodka and leaned against the counter without a care in the world.

“Basically, I’d give her a fake identity and set her with a new life,” Murray shrugged as if this was an everyday conversation. “The only problem is that she’s a minor. However, you could go with her, take on an identity. Two orphans, you’re her brother. You know, the works.”

Steve wasn’t sure what to make of that. But he glanced at where El had slumped on the couch, fast asleep with worry creasing her brow Without her powers, she could not check on her friends and family. The loss of Hopper was also something that still weighed heavily on the younger girl.

“And you could work all of that out?” Steve asked, still tense as he spoke.

Murray grinned at him, a little too mischievous for his taste. “I’ve done it before. We’ll have to shift out your identities every so often, but it will be possible.”

Steve looked to El again, though over how life had taken everything from her. Her friends, her childhood, her education, her father, her mother. He couldn’t let it take her freedom too.

“What do we need to do?” Steve asked.

“Rest,” Murray’s expression was softer than it had been since they arrived. “We’ll figure out everything tomorrow.”

Steve had never been so glad for his ability to just fall asleep. The minute he slumped against that couch; he was out like a light. Murray got started, telling himself that he was doing this as a favor to Jim and Joyce. At some point, he opted to place a blanket over the sleeping duo. He already hated kids, and he didn’t want them complaining about cricks and sore spots later.

“Doing this as a favor to Joyce and Jim,” Murray kept repeating. “Doing this as a favor for Joyce and Jim.”

Maybe he’d finally get over it at some point, because it would be a long time before they would get out of hiding.

\-----------------------------

“_On such short notice, I got you a place in Vermont. Some old buddies of mine will pick you up outside of Chicago. Your new names are Daniel and Jennifer Whitman. Nicknames are entirely up to you. My buddy has you a job as a mechanic in training, Steve. Jane, you’ll be tutored by his wife. Henry and Lisa Doris are great. You’ll love them.”_

“Pretty fast leaner,” Henry remarked as he looked over Steve’s work. “Though this isn’t quite the right piece. Rooky mistake.”

“I figured,” Steve admitted with a shrug as he tried to remove the oil from his hands. “It didn’t seem to fit right. But I wasn’t sure since the original piece looked pretty similar.”

Henry chuckled, patting Steve on the shoulder as he went to see if they had the part stocked. Murray had set them up with the new identities and new places about four months ago. True to his word, Henry and Lisa were angels, and El was learning far faster than she had under Joyce and Hopper.

Steve swiped at the sweat that was building on his forehead, despite the cool weather of April. The rain outside was nice too, and Steve took a moment to let the sound of the water droplets hitting the roof lull him into a relaxed state.

“Daydreaming again, Danny,” the familiar voice of Chuck Harper, a fellow mechanic, teased as he tossed Steve a water bottle. “How you get things done is beyond me.”

“You’re just jealous,” Steve grinned back. “You wish you had my skill.”

Chuck laughed at that, a heart-felt sound that made Steve’s smile widen. Chuck, of course, was far better than Steve was. The man had trained Steve most of the time since Henry was constantly taking customers. There were some really nice people here, and Steve knew that they would have to leave soon.

“Alright boys!” Henry called out as he emerged from the back. “Let me show Danny one last thing and we can call it a night. Go ahead and wrap up.”

The few people still working began their last-minute tinkering as Steve let Henry show him the difference in the two parts. Then he let Steve replace the part before the two of them cleaned up their stations and prepared to head back to the Doris home.

“Danny!” El grinned as she raced into a greasy-sweaty-oily Steve’s arms. She’d taken well to the new names, having used different names before after the boys had saved her. Something Steve was grateful for as neither Henry, nor Lisa, knew the truth about the two. “I missed you.”

“Missed you too, kid,” Steve pecked her head. “Let me clean up, and then you can tell me all about what Mrs. Lisa taught you. Alright?”

El nodded, beaming as she went to greet Henry.

The Doris family was, in fact, kind. Steve still couldn’t figure out how Mr. Bauman knew such kind people, but he wasn’t going to actually ask about that. He still wasn’t sure how much the two knew of their actual situation.

By the time Steve stepped out of the shower, it was about the time Lisa normally made dinner. But El was waiting for him.

“Papa,” she whispered, eyes wide and panicked.

His breath hitching, Steve followed El as they were led over to Henry’s office. He was clearly on the phone with a client.

“Of course, Doctor Brenner,” Henry was saying. “You’re Audi is just about done. I’d love for you to meet my trainee. He’s put a lot of effort into it.” A pause. “Yes, yes of course. We look forward to seeing you.”

The Audi Quattro was the car Steve had been working on, and it was the only Audi in the shop. That in itself was terrifying, knowing that Brenner knew their location. Exchanging a look with Jane, they both snuck back to their rooms and packed only the necessities.

“Dinner’s ready!” Lisa called out. “Danny! Jenny! Better come out before your food gets cold!”

There was no response, and Henry was exchanging a worried look with his wife. Lisa just shrugged.

“I’m sure Danny just fell asleep,” Lisa waved as she moved back to her husband. “You have been working him later and later hours. Jenny is probably curled into his side. You know how they are.”

But when Lisa got to their rooms, there was no sign of either sibling except for a partially shut window. It was as if Danny and Jenny had never even been there.

\---------------------

_ “I kept you guys there too long. Especially for your first place. Alright, we’ve got a few places now. I took into consideration some of the things you told me, and I’ve got a place I think you’ll like. We’ll stay at a cabin for two months before I send you off though. Just to be safe. Your new names are Jacob and Melissa Skinner. Once there, you’ll be in a house, alone this time. Sort of same cover story, so memorize the changes _while_ you’re in hiding.”_

El thought it was funny. Steve was going to kill Mr. Bauman later. Mr. Bauman had set him up as a hair stylist. The ladies he worked with were all really open and happy to have him, and they gushed over his hair. And despite being a bit awkward at first, Steve soon got the hang of cutting hair under the ladies’ careful guidance.

“Cindy, can I ask a favor?” Steve asked. It was their seventh month in the town just on the border of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“Of course, Jake,” Cindy, one of the best male stylists, grinned at them. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m not sure how long Mel and I will be here,” Steve explained with another awkward shrug. “So, I was hoping, when the time came, that you and Kendal would be willing to do our hair. We want to start fresh, you know? Look different.”

Cindy nodded seriously; the backstory having been one tale she had heard before. “Whatever you need, Jake. Just shoot me a call and I’ll have Kendal down here waiting.”

“Thanks, Cindy,” Steve offered a tired smile. “I’ll owe you one.”

“You could take me on a date,” Cindy winked at him.

And, well, how could Steve say no.

“You have a date?” El asked, eyes wide and a grin on her face. “That’s good! You deserve a date!”

Steve gave a soft smile. “You come first, okay? If she gets in the way of you, then we stop. Alright?”

El nodded, but she was still grinning. “I want details!”

Chuckling, Steve left El with a few leftovers and some math problems before going to get ready. He made sure to style his hair different so that he didn’t quite look the same, and then he was off.

“Good luck!” El called after him.

They ended up at a rather plain restaurant, but neither of them really made that much.

“Don’t you look handsome,” Cindy grinned at him. “You clean up nicely.”

“You mean when I’m not covered in hair?” Steve teased back a bit sarcastically. “Thanks, I feel so special now.”

He liked Cindy, really. She was a great person, funny, attractive, and light-hearted.

But…

“This was nice,” Steve smiled at her, though even he knew his expression was pained. “But, Cindy, I don’t want to break your heart.”

“What do you mean?” Cindy turned to him.

Steve bit his lip. “I’m going to have to leave, eventually. And I won’t be able to take you with me. So, I’m not sure I want to do a relationship just yet. You know?”

“Oh!” Cindy gaped. But before Steve could say anything else, Cindy burst into laughter. “Oh, no silly. I know that. I just had a bet going with some of the other girls about who could get you on a date first. I just won fifty bucks.”

Steve kind of stared at Cindy for a moment before he burst out laughing himself. That was definitely a Cindy thing to do. And Steve could already guess who the other five girls were. El got a kick out of it when he told her the story.

They stayed in the town between Pennsylvania and Ohio for four more months before it was time to cash in that favor with Cindy.

“We need to look different,” Steve explained.

“You won’t be able to pull off siblings, though,” Kendal pointed out, making Steve bulk. “What, you thought you could hide that from us. Jake, and I know that isn’t your real name, we’re practically therapists. We can tell when something’s off.”

Steve grinned sheepishly at the two ladies.

“We’ll figure it out,” Steve said. “Just do it.”

El went on to be a raven head, and Steve went blond. Where Steve got his hair cut, El got her first perm, her hair now a good length to pull off the look.

“We wish you both all the luck in the world,” Kendal grinned at the two. “Be safe, alright?”

Steve and El both hugged the two women goodbyes before heading off to meet with Bauman. The man threw a cow at what they had done, but it couldn’t be helped.

\--------------------------

_“I think you both like messing with my plans. Honestly. I can give you a month in the cabin, this time. But the sibling story won’t work. Lucky for you two, I’ve had a cover story working out. We’ll go with cousins this time. Better not use the sibling thing too often anyways. Could draw attention. We’re going with Harry Nicolson and Wendy Berk. Memorize and go.”_

The were in Mississippi now, and it had been eight months. Two whole years, plus one month, since they had to leave. El was now seventeen, and her powers were slowly trickling back to her. Steve’s new job was at an antique shop, and he was already dating someone. El, herself, was curious about her friends back home and decided to risk it. She was already in the void, walking closer to where the others were occupying a section.

“I just-I just feel like I should wait for El,” Mike was saying to the others, who were obviously gathered around Mike’s basement. “Like, sure, Kara is cute. But I still love El. What if she comes back and I wasn’t still available? I don’t want her to think I just left her.”

“Mike, dude,” Dustin placed a hand on his shoulder. “El would understand. But it’s been two years now. We need to realize that it may be a few years before El can come back. If at all.”

“I hate to agree with Dustin,” Max spoke up. “But as long as Brenner is still out there. As long as there are people like him. We can’t really expect her to come back.”

“So you just want me to move on?” Mike demanded.

“Yes,” El whispered, making all five of her friends jolt to a radio.

“El?” Mike breathed in a whisper. “El, are you?”

“I’m safe, Mike,” El promised him. “But you need to move on. I don’t know if I will come back. I can’t promise that. But I can’t put you in danger.”

“El, wait, please,” Mike begged.

“I want you to be happy,” El whispered. “I want you all to be happy. And that means, that for right now, we have to say goodbye. Maybe someday. But you need to move on.”

“We will,” Max promised.

“Yeah, we will,” Will nodded along. “But you have to be happy too.”

“Okay, I promise,” El stated. “Take care of each other. I’ll protect Steve.”

El waited a few minutes, just to make sure she hadn’t gotten her friends into any trouble, and then she was gone. Steve was crouched in front of her, dabbing a tissue to her nose with one hand and brushing tears away with the other.

“They miss us,” El whispered to him, trying to fight sobs. “Dustin really misses you. So much.”

Neither could fight the tears as they curled into each other.

“I want to go home,” El sobbed out. “I want to go home!”

“I know,” Steve whispered back, pulling her closer. “I know, El. Someday. I promise. We’ll go back.”

El preferred to be close to Steve’s side after that moment, constantly joining him at work and following him around town. She tried to stay out of his way whenever he went out on dates, but she would always stay curled in her bed on those days and nights. One night, however, the date didn’t go well, and El was still curled in her bed when Steve came up to greet her.

“Man, El, that break-up was almost as bad as-” Steve stopped as he saw her curled up on her bed in the dark of her room. “El, are you okay?”

El stiffened as the bed dipped and she slowly turned to face Steve.

“You’re back early,” El whispered to him. “Bad date?”

“Yeah,” his hand was instantly in her hair, brushing back the curls of her perm. Her hair had been growing out, and the dye was slowly starting to fade. “Don’t worry about it, alright? Do you feel sick?”

El shook her head, even as Steve felt her forehead. “No, I’m not sick.”

Steve frowned a bit more, looking El over. “How often do you do this?”

El gave a half-hearted shrug and curled further into Steve’s side. He quickly repositioned the both of them so that she was curled into his chest as he leaned against the headboard of her bed.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

El nodded, clutching his shirt tighter, letting the smell of him hit her nose. He smelled of open air, and grass, and his old pool. He smelled like Hawkins. Like home.

“I miss you when you’re gone,” El whispered. “You’re home. I don’t want to lose me.”

Steve was silent for a minute, and El thought for sure she had done something wrong. But then Steve curled further around her, and she couldn’t fight the tears anymore as he pulled her head back.

“I swear to you, El,” he began with a voice more serious and more sincere than she had ever heard it. “Only death will keep me away from you. And maybe the Upside Down. But you can just get me out of that, I’m sure.”

El let out a wet laugh at that.

By the time they finally moved on, it had been three months since that time El had talked to her friends back in Hawkins.

\------------------------------

“_Alright, going to be honest, talking to your friends was beyond risky. You guys are lucky they’re smart kids. Observing is allowed, especially since your powers could come in handy. But talking is a big no. Right, so this next place is going to be a bigger city. We’re testing it for now. Your names are Parker and Amanda Winterson. Cousins.”_

El decided that the best way to move on from Mike was to date. Steve didn’t seem to like the idea, but he didn’t really have a say. El wouldn’t let him have a say. In California, she went to the beach, at first to honor Billy. But she soon learned it was just a great place to hang out. She made friends as Amanda Winterson, and soon, she was doing flings. She never let them go too far. She wasn’t really ready for sex yet, was afraid to let someone else be in control of her. But by the second month, she was officially dating Nicholas Morrison.

However…

“Stop,” El batted his hands away. “I’m-I’m not ready for that yet.”

Nick eyed her for a moment. “Mandy? Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes,” El nodded back. “I’m just.” She bit her lips as Nick sat back on his heels. They were at his house, and what had started out as a make-out session had escalated when he start to fiddle with the hem of her tank-top. “I’m not ready.”

Nick eyed her a bit more. “Mandy, babe, you’re shaking.”

She was? Oh. She was.

“Mandy,” Nick, ever caring and comforting, Nick, sat them both down a good distance from each other so that he was still close but not touching her. “I’m going to ask you a really hard question, okay? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want too.”

El felt her shoulders grow tense, even as she nodded for him to ask.

“Has-has anyone ever,” he stopped, clearly trying to figure out how to word it. “Has anyone ever touched you? Against you will? Like, have they-have they-?” Nick swallowed. “Mandy, were you raped?”

El had heard the term a handful of times. Some from Hopper, some from her friends, a few times from Steve. She looked it up at one point, but she had never-but had it really happened to her? Was that why?

El dug deep into her own memories, searching for the things she had pressed down. There was-there was something.

Nick got his answer from her expression.

“Was-was it Parker?”

El’s head shot up and she shook her head frantically.

“No!” El rushed out. “No! Parker would never-he-Nick, Parker saved me! He-he saved me from the bad men! The people who hurt me. My Papa, he was a terrible man, Nick. I wish I could tell you more, but I can’t. Parker and I move because we-because Papa still wants me.”

Nick relaxed a bit, both relieved and worried.

“We’ll take our time,” Nick promised her after a moment. “But, does Parker know? Or does he only know the basics? You-you might want to tell him.”

El nodded at him, refusing his offer to be there when she told Steve the truth. Because Nick was right, Steve did need to know the truth. El herself had pushed it so far away she hardly remembered it.

Nick, amazing and wonderful, Nick, walked her home.

“Hey, Nick!” Steve greeted as they two walked inside. “You staying for-?”

Steve trailed off as he saw El’s tears stained face. She’d had a nervous break-down on the way back to their house, and Nick had pulled her into an alley to cry. She hadn’t stopped crying the whole way home, but Nick had glared at anyone who dare sneer at El. She loved Nick so much, and it would hurt to leave him.

“She wants to tell you alone,” Nick told Steve softly. “I’ll come back tomorrow to check on her.”

“El?” Steve was crouched in front of her the moment Nick was gone. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Talk to me.”

“Steve,” El sobbed out, falling into her rock, her anchor, her home. “Steve, Papa did something. Something bad. He ruined me.”

“El,” Steve whispered. “Papa won’t hurt you. I won’t let him.”

“No,” El cut Steve off with a sob and a furious shake of her head. “When he had me. He-he let people hurt me. Use me. Steve, I was-I was-”

Steve pulled her back so that he could look into her eyes. The pain there, Steve couldn’t help but pull El close again. She didn’t need to say anymore. He already knew what she was trying to say.

“I’ve got you,” Steve whispered. “I’ve got you, El. I’ve got you.”

Murray got them a doctor he trusted to come in and check El once this news had been revealed. Steve was by her side the whole time, per her request. And Nick waited dutifully for the results. Thankfully, there was nothing for them to worry about, but a therapist was recommended. They decided the therapist could wait until they moved again, which would probably be soon.

Especially since Steve and El were planning to pull a stunt that could very well get them in a world of trouble. And they planned to execute it soon.

“I love you,” El whispered to Nick. “Thank you, for loving me back. I wish we could be together more.”

“I can’t say this doesn’t hurt,” Nick laughed, sounding pained. “But you do what you have to, alright? And be safe.”

El smiled, sharing one last kiss with this amazing, wonderful boy and going to where Steve was doing his best to give them privacy.

Murray was going to kill them.

A few hours later, and they were exactly where El said they would see their intended target. Another couple hours later, and there she was.

“Go,” El urged, and the two quickly dashed from their hiding place and approached the woman.

“Grace Hargrove?”

The woman froze, whipping to face the two of them.

“Who are you?” she narrowed her eyes at them.

“I’m Steve Harrington,” he waved awkwardly. “And this is my friend Jane Hopper. We’re from Hawkins, Indiana.”

“So?” she scoffed at them.

She was definitely pretty, El had been right about that. But this woman, she seemed so angry. Like Billy and Neil.

“We’re here to tell you about your son,” Steve offered. “Billy Hargrove. We know Neil Hargrove kept the information from you.”

Grace scoffed at them, but didn’t make a move to leave or say anything else. Steve took it as his cue to continue.

“Mrs. Hargrove,” Steve tried, stepping forward a bit. “Or, ah, Mrs. Turner, right? Well, something happened to Billy. Back in July of 1985. And we figured you had a right to know.”

“Just get on with it,” Grace snapped.

Steve wanted to snap at this woman. She had abandoned her son to a monster, a son who loved her with every fiber of his being and yearned to have her back. And that would never happen. Steve wasn’t going to give her pleasantries when she was acting like this.

“He’s dead,” Steve spat out, and then began to turn El around. “Your son is dead, Mrs. Turner. Congratulations on winning mother of the year. His last thoughts were of you.”

Behind him, he heard Grace collapse. But Steve didn’t care in that moment as he led El away from the woman. She didn’t deserve the time of day.

(What Steve and El didn’t know, was that Grace drove down to Hawkins, Indiana where she yelled at Neil for killing their son. She and Neil both received jail time for their confessions of events; child abuse, child abandonment, neglect, attempted murder, etc. This, in turn, saved Maxine “Max” Mayfield, who had started to receive the wrath of her step-father over the last couple of years. Susan quickly divorced Neil after the arrest, and with Max’s convincing, they opted to stay in Hawkins. Mostly because of money.)

Murray, of course, was not amused.

\---------------------------

_“You were only there for four months! Four months! Darn it you two! I try to do something nice and you both go and mess it up. For that, we are going to have to put you a month into the cabin again, no, you know what. Two months. You are both grounded. Grounded! You hear me! Grounded!”_

“How long am I going to be upside down?” Steve asked.

El gave a half-hearted shrug, her gaze intense as she held Steve up in the air. She wanted to be ready, and Steve often volunteered to be her test subject. Much to El’s surprise.

“The blood rushing to my head isn’t good, you know,” Steve scolded lightly.

A huff from El, and Steve was moved into a position so that he would have been pretty much flat other than the fact that there was nothing below him. He was faced down, and El soon moved him close enough that she only needed to angel her head a little to look up at him.

They were going for full-body control this time.

Steve gasped as El took control of his legs, causing her to stop with a wide panicked look.

“No, El, don’t stop,” Steve said quickly, still unable to move. “I was just surprised. This is going to take some getting used to. Just keep going.”

El gave a shallow nod and continued. She moved his legs about in odd ways, enough to cause discomfort but never real pain. His arms were then played with next. She made his head move about, slow as not to snap his neck. Then she bent his body at weird angels.

Soon enough, she was exhausted, and Steve fell onto the couch with a bounce.

“Fingers, toes, eyelids, mouth,” Steve was listing a bit later as he tried to think of what El could attempt the next day. “At some point, we’ll need you to control my body at once. And your goal is still to control me on the ground, right?”

El nodded, her eyes half-lidded as she fought to stay awake. With a chuckle, Steve carefully lifted her off the chair and brought her back to her little bedroom in the cabin. She was getting stronger, and that both terrified and excited Steve. He kissed her forehead and watched as she leaned into the touch.

With a yawn of his own, Steve snuck back to his own room.

\-----------------------------

_“Right, no more stupid stunts, got it? You’re going to be roommates for this one, because El is far too attractive to be your sister. Hey! No throwing things! We both know it’s true! Roommates, that settles it. You’re old friends, James McMilliagan and Thea Hunt. Got it? Good. Now don’t forget to behave!”_

Steve wasn’t exactly sure what to say to that.

“Hold on, what?”

El rolled her eyes at him. “Mike, as in Michael Wheeler, as in my ex-boyfriend and the brother of your ex-girlfriend, is dating.”

Steve blinked, still not entirely sure what to say.

“Okay?” Steve drawled out the word, setting down his book and removing his reading glasses. (And who would have thought that he, King Steve “The Hair” Harrington would need glasses. Robin was going to have a field day). “Are we happy about this. Sad about this? I’m not entirely sure how to respond to this, because, you know, he was your ex.”

El plopped onto the floor in front of Steve, taking a deep, heavy sigh. “I don’t know either. I mean, I’m happy for him. Ecstatic. And I told him to move on, but…”

“But you still love him,” Steve offered.

El nodded and fell into Steve’s open arms.

“I miss him,” El admitted.

“I know,” Steve whispered. “I know.”

It was few hours later, tears gone, and the moment forgotten, that something struck Steve.

“If I had married Nancy, and you had married Mike, we would have been unofficial siblings.”

El threw a pillow at him before bursting into laughter.

Like always, Steve and El made themselves adjust to their new life. Steve got a job at a small café as one of their baristas, El joined in. They were living in North Dakota this time, and Steve had opted to turn on his charm.

“You were getting boyfriends left and right in California,” Steve huffed at her. “And it’s been forever since I had a good, solid girlfriend! My last, actual girlfriend was Nancy! I am dating this time! Just you watch!”

El let him, knew he needed someone in his life that could make him happy. The guy was twenty three now, and he deserved someone special. But still, El couldn’t help but scowl at Steve’s dates whenever she met them. He generally chose nice girls, and he quickly dumped anyone who didn’t like El or was an overall jerk. But, still, there was just something about her.

So she distracted herself by dating too. She never let them go to far, and anyone who tried would get flung across the room and then she would mess with their memory. A new and terrifying power she had used on Steve once and completely cried about it for days.

But still, there wasn’t anyone like Michael Wheeler who made her feel absolutely beautiful and special. There wasn’t anyone like Nicholas Morrison who cared about her and reminded her of how amazing she was every single day. There wasn’t anyone like Mike or Nick who would give her the world without asking for something in return. No one except….

The day El realized what was wrong, she sobbed into her pillow and told Steve she was sick.

“Come on,” Steve tugged her out of bed a day later. “I know what will make you feel better. We haven’t tested your powers in a while.”

They hadn’t and El nodded as she sat on the ground and focused her powers to lift Steve into the air. He gave her an encouraging smile that made her heart thud a little too quickly.

“You’ve got me,” he reassured as he always did.

As always, she nodded back, though this time with a lump in her throat. “I’ve got you.”

And then she began, twisting his body to her whim, controlling every part of him so that he had absolutely no control. A sick, twisted part of El had an idea. She lowered Steve to the ground, still in control of Steve, and made him walk forward. His eyes held curiosity at the display, but he knew he couldn’t fight it. And then, he was cupping El’s face, looking into her eyes. Still no control.

El wanted this, wanted him to lean and kiss her, wanted to kiss him back. And yet, the good part of her, the part of her that told her this was wrong, also told her it would be real. And that was enough for El to shake that thought away.

Instead, she made Steve kiss her forehead before she released the hold on his body.

Steve studied her. “El, if you’re feeling lonely again, you only had to say so.”

And El, well, she burst into tears.

“I’ve got you this time,” Steve assured. “I promise. I’m here.”

Jane Eleven “El” Hopper-Byers was in love with Steve Harrington, and she would have to live with that for the rest of her life. The worst part was not necessarily knowing that he wouldn’t love her back. It was knowing that she almost forced him to kiss her, that she could force him to _love her_. El had never been so afraid of her own powers.

Six months later, and it was time to move on.

\--------------------------------------------

_“What do you mean ‘why am I smiling’? Isn’t it obvious? Never mind. We’re going with roommates again. It’s easier that way. I’ll debate something else later, but roommates for now. Okay. We’ve got Benjamin Anderson and Jade Carter. Take care, lovebirds.”_

Steve hated how Murray could see right through him sometimes. They were in South Carolina this time, and Steve had a job at a regular old Supermarket. He hated retail with a passion. At this point, the only relief Steve could find was with El at home. He refused to let her work at the Supermarket, knowing she would die in that setting.

“Just snap my neck, El,” Steve grouched as he stumbled onto the couch face first.

“No,” El stated, shooting him a smile before turning back to the game of solitaire she was playing. “Dinner is on the table.”

She wasn’t as good a cook as Steve, to which she would admit, but with Steve’s current hours, he was unable to make food anymore.

Rather than get up, Steve let himself watch El play her game. She was conscentrated, not having yet seen the movable three of hearts. Steve absently reached over and moved the card for her.

In return, El used her powers to move Steve’s dinner to the coffee table so he could watch and eat.

El was, for lack of better term, stunning. Her hair had grown out, hanging around the small of her back, and there was a natural wavy to it. She had often talked about cutting back to just below her shoulder blades, but had yet to do so. Her brown eyes held more life now, but every so often they would be sparked with pain whenever she thought Steve wasn’t looking. He often wished he could brush all that pain away.

Steve liked to think he knew El like the back of his hand, better than he knew himself. But sometimes-sometimes she would look at him and be absolutely depressed. He hated that look more than anything.

Was he not good enough?

“Steve?” El’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. “Your food is getting cold.”

Steve shrugged and shoved food into his mouth. He made himself stop staring, focusing solely on getting one bite of food from his mouth and then the next.

The thought of El not wanting him around anymore made him sick, and whenever he thought about it, he normally had to isolate himself. It was hard to eat with this thought too, and he knew he was probably going to throw it all back up later.

“Steve?”

Her hand was carefully lifting his chin, studying him with those beautiful brown eyes. All of the songs about love always talked about blue eyes. They always talked about the sea that they got lost in. For Steve, brown was like being wrapped in a warm blanket with a mug of hot chocolate. It was like the taste of chocolate melting on his tongue. It was home.

“Steve, what’s wrong?” El pressed, and she had clearly been asking him for some time. “Please, you’re scaring me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

He wasn’t sure how to answer her.

“Is it the job?” El begged for an answer Steve still wasn’t sure how to give. “Should we, should we move on. We can call Murray. We can leave. I hate seeing you like this, Steve. You’re not eating. You throw up what you do eat. You clearly aren’t sleeping. Please, tell me what’s wrong. I want to help.”

He hated seeing her like this, hated seeing her so upset, and to think he caused it. No, he couldn’t handle it.

“I love you,” he whispered.

And then he surged forward, capturing her lips with his own. She didn’t kiss back, and with that, Steve was up and out the door the moment they broke apart.

They had only been in South Carolina for two months by that point.

\----------------------------

_“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE’S GONE?!?!?!”_

El used her powers, doing her best to find Steve, and it took a month to finally track him down in Georgia. The only reason she managed to find him was because he was mugged in an alley and unable to keep moving like he had been.

“Ah, kid,” Murray hissed as they finally stumbled upon Steve’s body. “Darn it, kid!”

El stared in horror as she took in Steve’s state. He had clearly lost a lot of blood, and the last month had not been kind to him. His lips were blue, and the wound was infected. He was malnourished and probably dehydrated. El sank to his side, pulling him into her arms as Murray hissed over his radio.

A doctor looked him over in a cabin, gave El specific instructions both verbally and written that she promised to follow to a Tee. And then, her days were occupied by looking after her savior, hero, and lover.

When she wasn’t rushing to get food done, or trying to get him to take medication, or anything else that was on the list, she would visit their friends and then tell Steve about what she learned.

“I visited Nick today,” El said as she settled into the chair at Steve’s bedside. “He’s got a new girlfriend, and she’s good. I’m glad he moved on. And then I saw Dustin and he and Suzie are going to college together. They broke up at some point, but they’re back together.”

Steve twitched, but El didn’t say see, her eyes shut as she remembered her friends.

“Mike and his girlfriend are engaged, but she wants to meet me,” El laughed. “She’s sweet, and I hope they have a happy life. I think Jonathan and Nancy are getting married in a few weeks. Will is at college too, with Lucas and Max. They got into a really good school, but I forget the name. Robin is happy, she’s dating someone, but Erica doesn’t seem to like the girl. I’ve got to agree with her. Joyce is, I think she’s mostly at peace. I think she worries about-”

She finally opened her eyes to see Steve watching her through half-lided eyes. His was clearly still exhausted, but his gaze was intense.

“El,” he chocked out, coughing a bit.

El quickly fumbled with the cup of water she replaced every night, only allowing sips. His gaze never shifted from her as she fussed about him.

“El,” he tried again. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Shh,” El quickly hushed them. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Steve was crying, and El quickly cupped his face, brushing the tears away as they fell.

“I love you too,” El whispered. “I love you too, Steve.”

She didn’t kiss him yet, mainly because he was falling asleep. She wanted him to remember what she said, wanted him to remember that what she said was the honest truth.

Steve was in and out of consciousness for a bit. It was about another month later that he was finally able to stay awake and begin the process of recuperating.

“You said you loved me,” Steve whispered one morning as El adjusted the IV drip. ‘Or was that a dream?”

El smiled, finished with the IV drip and moved to hover over Steve.

“I love you,” El whispered, gently pecking Steve’s lips. “I love you.”

Steve weak, thin arms moved to circle around El and pull her closer. She let him do it, let him have the control this time as their lips met in a soft, delicate kiss as if Steve was still testing that this was real.

“I love you,” El whispered against his lips.

Steve released a chocked sob at this and kissed El back, firmer this time, yet still delicate. He didn’t press any further. Because he remembered, or because he was just too tired, El wasn’t sure. Whatever it was, Steve seemed content to just kiss her whenever she was close by, and El found herself giggling quite a bit after that.

By the time Steve was relatively ready to be placed back in society, it was two months later, four months since they had to go into hiding to take care of Steve.

\-------------------------

_ “So, first of all, congratulations. I’m just glad I didn’t have to go through a speech to get the two of you to recognize your undying feelings for each other. Right, this makes my life so much easier. We can finally go with lovers. I’ve been dying to use this one. Don’t give me that look. Anyways. We’ve got Peter Frierson and Melissa Bates.”_

“I swear this is karma,” Steve scoffed as he scooped ice cream at his new job.

El laughed at him. They were in Wisconsin this time, and Steve was working at an ice cream shop. With a jerk boss.

“Frierson!” his manager yelled out. “Get back to work!”

The woman he was handing the ice cream raised a brow as she read Steve’s name tag.

“Can I speak to you manager?”

Blinking in surprise, Steve went back to get the manager, who instantly yelled at Steve before walking out to greet the customer with a smile. The woman, as it turned out, revealed herself to be a lawyer and threatened the manager on the spot.

“If this is karma, then I think you should hope your streak continues,” El turned to Steve with a grin on her face.

The manager quickly apologized to the woman and Steve. But she wasn’t yet satisfied. She then proceeded to ask Steve a series of questions before leaving. Steve, for his efforts, got a hard slap to the head that had El nearly breaking the display case.

“I’m fine,” Steve assured El for the eight time as they made their way to their apartment. “Really, sweetheart, I’m fine.”

El still didn’t look convinced as she ran her hands through his hair again, searching for any type of mark or scar. This was the first time that El had ever been around to see Steve get physical abuse at his job. It had been pretty common so far, and Steve wasn’t keen on letting his telekinetic girlfriend find out. But now she knew.

“Please, El,” Steve whispered in her ear, kissing just below it. He grinned as she shivered. “Just relax, okay.”

El nodded, still not thrilled with what she had learned. It was after dinner when El finally brought the subject up again. Or, rather, took matters into her own hands.

Steve had just finished the dishes and was heading to the bathroom when he felt his body stop working, the familiar feeling of El’s powers wrapped around him in a skintight cocoon. And then he was walking towards the living room, pulling his shirt off in the process. All completely against his will. El gasped as she saw the sight before her. There were ornate bruises covering Steve’s chest, dipping low under his pants, probably covering his legs too. Purple and yellow splotches decorated his body mercilessly.

“El,” Steve tried, but El made him stop.

Her hands traced the bruises, giving soft touches to every mark that had caused her boyfriend pain.

She’d kill him. With her bare hands.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” El hissed at him, a deep, dark fury in her eyes. “Why would you keep this from me?”

Steve pleaded with his eyes for her to let go, and she obliged after a moment, watching as he stumbled back.

“El,” he whispered, quickly moving to cup her face. “Every bruise, every sprain, every cut, every broken bone. Whatever pain I endure, it will all be worth it to keep you safe. So please. Don’t do anything.”

El studied him for a moment. “I can’t promise that. Just like I know you can’t promise me that you’ll stop getting hurt for me.”

Steve sighed, shutting his eyes and pressing their foreheads together. She hated seeing him this tired all the time. She’d have to talk to Murray about it later.

“It’s only been two months,” Steve whispered. “Let’s stay.”

El wasn’t going to let that happen. Not that Steve had to know. As he fell asleep that night, El sent a message to Murray about the problem and waited for the reply.

The next morning, Steve and El came up to Steve’s job to see the lawyer standing there and his boss getting arrested.

“I got a tip last night,” the woman pursed her lips. “And I am aware you are already under witness protection. You should have spoken up sooner.”

Linda Reynolds was, apparently, an old friend of Murray’s. He had asked her to investigate when Steve’s phone calls sounded off to him.

\--------------------------------------------

_“You are an idiot,” Murray snapped at Steve later. “Honestly! Why would you do that to yourself! Alright! Alright! Fine! Don’t argue with me! In case you have both forgotten, you are both under my protection. It has been 48 months, 4 years, and I am not stopping now! Right, where were we. Ah! Lovers again, cause I’m not messing with that one! Isaiah Jackson and Liliana West. Now get out!”_

El and Steve had only been in Georgia for six months. Okay, that was pretty long considering their track record, but Murray wanted them moved again. He was giving them a few days to say goodbye when Steve thought of something.

“Mark and Jennifer got married,” Steve told El absently as they packed up their life in Georgia.

“And we weren’t invited,” El mocked gasped.

Mark and Jennifer hadn’t been the friendliest couple they met. In fact, they rather hated Steve and only barely tolerated El. Neither was sure why the other couple hated them, but they weren’t going to press.

“Ha ha,” Steve drawled out. “It just, it got me thinking.”

El hummed, putting the last of their favorite blankets into the duffle bag and moving to the stuffed animals El was so attached too.

“About what, babe?”

Steve’s hand slid to his pocket, fiddling with the object there. Of all the things he had taken from Hawkins, he had kept this one close. It had been a gift to him from his grandfather after his grandmother died. His grandfather hadn’t kept it because she had died shortly after her.

“Just, about our future,” Steve shrugged. “About everything.”

El stopped and turned to Steve. “Are you breaking up with me?” El asked, voice cracking.

“No!” Steve quickly denied, waving his hands frantically. “No! I wouldn’t dare! It’s just, I was thinking of something else. How to-how to make it go further.”

El frowned. “Steve, I don’t think I can-”

“Marry me!”

El gaped at Steve as her lover mentally beat himself up. Steve quickly took a deep breath, moving to get onto one knee in front of El and slipping his grandfather’s gift out of his pocket.

“My grandfather told me that as long as I kept this, I would always find love,” Steve explained to her as he opened the case to reveal his grandmother’s wedding ring. “And I think you are that love, El. I want to share the rest of my life with you. Even without a big ceremony, we can just sign the document to make it official. And when we get home, we can get married in front of our friends Please, Jane Eleven Hopper-Byers, making me the happiest man alive and agree to spend the rest of your life by my side and I promise to spend the rest of my life at yours.”

There were tears in El’s eyes as she looked over the beautiful ring in front of her. But her gaze soon shifted to Steve, the man who had saved her. The person who had always been at her side. She could do eternity.

“Yes,” El breathed. “Yes, Steve. Yes!”

He spun her around the room for what felt like hours as they both laughed giddily.

\------------------------------

_“Do either of you realize how lucky you are that I can even pull these strings. Like, honestly. You both need help. Alright, give it a month in the cabin and I’ll have your documents to be signed. Yeesh, yeah, I love you. Now stop your yammering. I need to think. And I can too drink vodka while driving! Watch me! You both stress me out too much!”_

\------------------------------------

_“Alright, blushing newlyweds. You need a honeymoon. We’ll make it extended. I’m sending you to New York. Yes, yes. Thank me later. We’re going with Nathan and Katherine Jenkins. Enjoy your life as a married couple.”_

El and Steve weren’t exactly sure what to do as a married couple. They had to wonder if being a married couple would be easier if they had actually held a ceremony. They also figured that most people probably had sex right off the bat once they got married, but that hadn’t happened so far, and they were both taking their time for El’s sake.

“Dude,” their friend Daniel laughed at them. One of the many waiters they worked with at the small restaurant. “You guys were practically married before you actually got married.”

El and Steve both had to admit that Daniel was right. They had been sharing a bed off and on even before they had started dating when the nightmares got to be too much. They shared a house. They shared food. They often shared clothes (El stole Steve’s clothes if they were being honest here).

“Huh,” Steve finally managed to say before he had to race over to a table of customers.

As they always did, El and Steve settled into a routine. El would continue to test her powers, they would work, there would be the occasional arguments, they would bicker and laugh. Life was good. Really good.

But El wanted more.

“What’s it like?” El asked one day as she lowered Steve to the ground.

“What’s what like?”

“My powers, controlling you?”

Steve studied El for a moment, noticing the way she shifted in her seat, how she bit her lip and wouldn’t meet his eyes. How she fiddled with her hair, which had been cut to below her shoulder blades and needed to be trimmed.

“It’s both amazing and terrifying,” Steve admitted. “Terrifying because someone else has control of me, and I can understand how Will and Billy must have felt. But amazing because I know you’d never hurt me. Not intentionally. And letting you be in control like that, with your powers wrapped around me, it’s like you’re a part of me. I-I don’t know how to explain it properly, but I love it!”

El nodded, lost in thought for a moment.

“What if I gave you control?”

Steve stared at his wife for a moment, his brow pinched. “I don’t think you can give me your powers El. Pretty sure it doesn’t work that way.”

“No,” El shook her head. “I-I meant another way.”

Still confused, Steve studied his wife a bit more. He liked to think he could read El like a book. They’d been together so long now, he felt as if he knew her inside and out. So what could she, oh.

Oh!

“Are you sure?” Steve quickly moved to crouch in front of her, watching her carefully. “I don’t want to do anything you’re not okay with.”

“I want a baby!”

Steve thought he was going to have a stroke.

“Not-not now,” El quickly amended. “That came out wrong. I want to have a baby with you someday, Steve. I really do. I want to look down at our child and see your eyes and my nose. I want that with you, but that can’t happen if we don’t take the next step.”

Steve knew he couldn’t answer verbally just yet, so he surged forward and kissed El as passionately as he could without hurting her.

Still, they needed to talk….

“Slow,” Steve broke a way for a moment, pressing a quick peck to her lips. “We take it slow, day by day until you’re ready.”

It would be a process, but Steve was going to help her through it the best he could. By the eighth month, it was time to move on, and Steve and El were enjoying married life.

\----------------------------

_“I left you in New York too long. Something came up, and you’re being followed. I’m getting you someplace safe. We’ll do, let’s say, three months and go from there. Once you’re out, you’ll be going by Jackson and Hannah Rodgers. Alright? Be safe, both of you.”_

The three months in the cabin had been nice, and it left El and Steve rather set in their relationship, more so than either expected. They had their first major fight over the time kept captive, and after a deep apology, they had taken their marriage a step further.

It was two days till their six-year anniversary of the day they went into hiding on Christmas Eve. The year was 1991, and one month ago, in November, the Berlin Wall had collapsed. El and Steve now worked in a nice little local diner Kansas. Steve as a cook and El as a popular waitress. Everyone quickly learned she was Jackie’s girl, and that meant she was untouchable.

It was a normal, average day at work when a familiar face slid into a booth.

“What can I get you today, sir?” El greeted the man.

“Coffee, and vodka if you have it,” Murray Bauman grinned at them. “And a word with you and your best cook.”

El cocked a brow at him before making her way to her manager. After a quick exchange of words, she and Steve slid into the booth.

“Brenner’s been arrested, and his projects have been shut down,” Murray, never one for pleasantries, cut straight to the chase. “Doctor Sam Owens has declared you both free people and you are both welcome to return to Hawkins.”

El and Steve exchanged wide-eyed looks before bursting into smiles of relief.

“We can go home,” El breathed.

“Yeah,” Steve kissed her forehead. “We can go home.”

Murray couldn’t help but beam at the couple, watching as their wedding bands glistened in the sun of the gorgeous sunset. Or maybe he just liked it when his couples got to better. Who knows.

“There, uh, is another thing,” Murray carefully slid a folder across the table. “And, uh, try not to be too loud.”

Murray wished he had a camera to film Steve and El’s reaction to the news.

\----------------------------

“I’ve got you,” Steve said.

El’s gaze snapped to him, watching as he kissed her forehead. They were standing in front of a door to a hospital room with voices on the other side. The guards were eyeing them but said nothing as they both stood there a little too long.

“I’ve got you,” Steve reassured once more.

Because they always had each other. Through everything. Even this.

With that reassurance, El knocked on the door.

“Coming!” a familiar voice shouted at the door before footsteps could be heard.

El’s breath caught in her throat as familiar blue eyes and red hair greeted them. Steve was beaming beside her, and a wide grin was spreading on Maxine Mayfield’s face.

“Oh you jerks!” Max gasped as she flung herself into Steve’s arms first, now reaching his chin in height. The moment she let go of Steve, she was tugging El close. “You absolute jerks! Where have you been?”

As Max tugged El and Steve into the room, El was grateful that Steve chose to answer.

“Everywhere,” Steve snarked, earning a childish tongue from Max. “Ow! Dang it, Robin!”

El missed the moment of the friend’s reunion because there, on the hospital bed, was her dad. Jim Hopper.

“Hey sweetheart,” Hopper smiled at her. “I missed you kid.”

“Not a kid anymore,” El found herself quipping, grinning as she sank onto the edge of his bed. There were tears in her eyes. “I missed you, Hop!”

She curled into her dad’s chest, sobbing freely. Murray had been there to help save Hopper, the man having been trapped in the Upside Down, saved and then tortured by Russians, and finally rescued a few months ago. It had been a long process according to Murray.

“Thank you, Harrington,” she heard Hopper say, and she knew her husband was beside them.

“Always,” Steve stated.

The reunion was everything she could have hoped for and more. She and Mike finally got closure, and they all were a mess of tears and hugs and stories.

“Owens got us hotel rooms,” Dustin was brandishing the room keys. “I mean, I guess we could do guy girls since not all of us are married, but you know…”

“Dustin,” El placed a hand on his arm. “I’m married.”

Dustin, and the entire room bulked.

“So am I,” Steve shrugged, earning sudden sounds of protest from everyone as they demanded to know why they weren’t invited to the ceremony. “Okay, first of all, UN-DER-CO-VER. And second of all, we didn’t have a ceremony. We opted to wait till we got back.”

“So, who are you guys married too?” Lucas asked, a grin on his face.

Steve wasn’t sure if they had suddenly all gotten dumb or if they just weren’t connecting the pieces. But El was good enough to stand up and link her hand with Steve. He decided to use their gasps as a sign to go a step further and pressed a kiss to El’s lips.

“HARRINGTON!”

“Yes,” El and Steve turned to Hopper with matching grins on their faces.

Hopper was completely red in the face, but even he could tell there wasn’t much he could do about the situation as his adopted daughter leaned into Steve’s side.

“Technically,” Steve pressed, and the amused look on Steve’s face said everything. “Our friends are convinced we’ve been married for the last five years.”

Steve was pretty sure Hopper would have ripped his IV out if El had not been holding him down with her powers. Which was an entirely new conversation because the last time anyone had seen El, her powers were still gone.

“Right, two couples per room,” Dustin finally offered at Steve’s insisted nudging. “Any preferences.”

In the end, Robin and her girlfriend won the argument of who would get to bunk with El and Steve. Much to wide protest, and Hopper still wasn’t happy about his daughter being married to a drunk, rich, teen. That part hurt, but El had glared at her dad and said she wouldn’t visit him until he learned to behave.

Unlike Hopper, Steve knew to take El at her word.

“El, sweetheart, you can’t do that to your dad,” he tried to soothe on the way to the hotel.

“Watch me!” El snapped, making everyone stare. “I love you. I married you. And if Hop thinks he can break us up like he did with Mike and I, then he has another thing coming.”

Steve couldn’t help but grin like an idiot. “I love you too.”

True to her word, it was four days before Hopper sent all of El’s friends back to the hotel room.

“He says he’s sorry,” Will explained, and that he won’t do it again.

“He really misses you,” Lucas added. “Like, a lot. Kept pressing us about you, but we know about as much as he does.”

Steve, who had been letting her get out her frustration with her powers, was just kind of laying on the floor as the kids delivered Hopper’s letter and apology. Steve knew El still kept Hopper’s first letter. His little speech about keeping the door open three inches. Sometimes she would remember the letter and open a door whenever they were making out or sometimes doing it just because a door was closed.

“Why are you staring at us upside down, Steve?” Dustin asked.

“I have worked a nine to five job almost every day for six years, Henderson,” Steve snapped. “I am bored out of my mind!”

“He hasn’t been able to read or cook either because our stuff is still with Murray,” El stated. “He’s bringing it tomorrow, but the idiot forgot to drop it off in the first place, so he’s been on edge. Plus he can’t really cook, and the room is generally occupied with other people on a regular basis.”

“We didn’t need to know that last part,” Max scrunched her nose. “Now come on. I’m tired of hearing Hopper complain.”

\---------------------------

Steve was practicing gushing over Jonathan and Nancy’s baby boy. The six-month-old child was giggling as Steve made faces at little Joseph Byers. He was absolutely adorable, and it had everyone smiling.

El and Hopper were having a private conversation in Hopper’s hospital room, a conversation that even Steve was kicked out for. He’d know how the conversation went when El came out of the room, but for now, he was distracting himself from the anxiety by cooing at the newest member of the Byers family.

“So what are your plans with El?” Jonathan eventually asked as Joseph began to nod off. “Are you guys going to settle somewhere?”

“Probably Hawkins,” Steve shrugged, because they hadn’t really talked about it. They had just assumed they would both go back to Hawkins. Though part of them had feared they would never go back. “Though I think we’re debating a beach house in California. But Hawkins has always been home, you know. We’d spend nights together just sobbing because we wanted to go _home_.”

The others probably wouldn’t understand, but they did have the longing of _wanting El and Steve to come home._ So that was enough. It was enough for Joyce Byers to wrap him in her warm embrace, enough for Robin to join in. Enough for them all to join in. Even those who had only recently learned of the government’s corruption.

Not long after the group hug dispersed, El stepped out and met Steve’s gaze. She looked tired yet satisfied. A good sign, considering their track record.

“He wants to talk to you,” El told him.

\---------------------

Despite everyone’s initial fear, El got along with Mike’s wife, Nicole. Or Nikki as she insisted El call her. So as Steve was talking to Hopper, she was telling everyone about some of their adventures. She had only just gotten to the part about where she and Steve had come up with an intense routine.

“So Mike said the last time they saw you, your powers were gone,” Nikki pressed eagerly as El got done her story. “But they came back, right? What changed?”

Nikki was a psychology major, and Max had mentioned that Nikki had been trying to debunk what had changed for El to cause her powers to suddenly wake up.

“I think, I think it was around the time that I got my first massage,” El was humming, trying to remember what happened. “I’d been tense for so long, and Steve just sort of gave me a shoulder massage one night because I ended up pulling a muscle. It was the most relaxed I had been in a while and Steve asked me to get a crock pot down for him while he cut chicken. I didn’t want to move so I just used my powers.”

Nikki nodded humming at this.

“Have you lost your powers since then?” Dustin asked, his girlfriend looking just as eager. “Like, has anything happened.”

“Steve and I made a routine,” El explained to them. “A set of things I would do to get stronger in case the monsters came back.”

“Like what?” Max asked, clearly eager.

“Well, first, I would watch each of you,” El admitted. “Just, filter around the void and see how far I could make my powers stretch there. See how many blocks I could create. I stayed away from anything embarrassing, I promise. But we also worked with my telekinesis.”

“What, like lifting and throwing?” Robin frowned. “That’s kind of boring.”

“At first, yes,” El nodded at Robin. “But the heavier objects are, the harder they are to move. Well, were to move. If I wanted, I could probably shift this entire hospital a few inches. And then there was more than that.”

“You can’t leave us hanging, El,” Mike whined as she paused. “You’re killing us.”

El smiled at him. Same old Mike. “I learned to control and manipulate,” she explained. “Minds, memories, bodies. Whatever Steve and I thought we would need in a worst-case scenario.”

“Wait, how did you practice this?” Erica demanded. “Because I don’t think you did this on objects.”

This was where El got uncomfortable. “Steve let me try my powers on him. That was what we were doing when you guys knocked.”

Thankfully, Steve chose that moment to step out of the room, looking a bit frazzled but relieved. He quickly noticed the tense looks.

“What I miss?” he questioned as he glanced over everyone. “What’s wrong? El?”

“I, uh, told them about our routine,” El muttered.

“Oh,” Steve managed to say after a moment. “Well, okay then. Hi guys. That had to be surprising.”

They all began to shout and demand answers to the point that they got kicked out of the hospital until they could all calm down. They ended up at a diner where the questions were still hounded out.

“And you’re sure she didn’t make you love her?” Dustin was pressing later, much to El’s pain and Steve’s anger.

“Suggest it again and I will never talk to you again,” Steve threatened the group. “Now if you’ll excuse us, my _wife_ and _I_ are going to go spend the rest of the night alone.”

This was not how any of them wanted their reunion to go.

\-------------------

They ended up renting a separate hotel and contacting Murray about the change so that they could get their things. Murray was the one who went and talked sense into the others, and Steve spent his time assuring El that they’re friends were just being idiots.

“Do you want to know how I know you didn’t control me,” Steve whispered to her as they lay cuddled in their favorite blankets. “Because I can prove it.”

El turned to him, tear stained eyes watching him closely.

“That night when you said you were sick,” Steve stated. “And I let you use your powers. I knew. I knew you wanted to kiss me, well, I didn’t know for sure, but I figured after you told me you loved me. But I knew you were going to make me kiss you. But you stopped, because you’d never forgive yourself if you forced me.”

There were tears welling in El’s eyes as she sobbed, curling her body further into Steve’s as if they could melt into each other.

“That,” Steve whispered, and our baby.

El’s head jerked up to see the pregnancy test she had tossed earlier the night before. Her eyes widened as Steve captured her lips with his own, kissing her as he had the night she first asked to try.

“I love you so much, El,” Steve whispered to her. “And I am going to stay with you and our baby for as long as possible. I promise.”

El’s next sob came out with a laugh, one of the most beautiful sounds Steve has ever heard.

“By the way, Hopper knows,” Steve told her once she had calmed down. “I may have let it slip.”

El punched him on the shoulder for that one.

\--------------------------

After their friends were convinced El was not going to Mind Control anyone, they all pitched in to help El and Steve get a house in Hawkins. For a while, Hopper had plans to move in with them, but El shut that down when they realized Hopper wasn’t joking. Steve was grateful for that one. With the rest of the group still job hunting, they knew they wouldn’t see them that often, but it was still nice to be _home_.

The best day of Steve’s life (shared with the day he had his wedding ceremony with El and all their friends) was the day he got to hold his daughter for the first time.

“Hello, Elizabeth,” Steve cooed at his daughter. “I’m your dad. Your mom’s asleep right now, but we promise you, we’ll always be there for you.”

Through thick and thin. Through powers or no. Steve would be there for his daughter. And for El. And for anyone else they added to their crazy family.

“I love you Elizabeth Joy Harrington. So very much.”

And then he placed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

**Author's Note:**

> So what did you guys think? I do love comments, and I've been in an obviously weird mood lately.
> 
> P.S. Do not give you dogs mints. Peppermints are fine, but regular mints of any kind is a no. Your dog will be high as a kite.


End file.
